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The C&MA is committed to the welfare of our missionary families. One expression of that concern is demonstrated in the policies related to the education of missionaries’ children. The Alliance has required that our missionaries wrestle before appointment with these issues and come to a place where they are comfortable with the mission’s philosophy of MK care and education. This requirement has been interpreted in various ways, both within our denomination and among other mission agencies. One not terribly uncommon misunderstanding of the C&MA’s policy, held by people who have not had opportunity to be fully informed, is that the Alliance requires all of its MKs to attend a boarding school. Those of us within the C&MA mission family are aware that this is not the case. You may be surprised to learn that only 30 percent of our school-age missionary children attend boarding school, with most of these being in junior and senior high.

There are more good educational options available today around the world than ever before. Families may select from various schooling options including an MK school close to where they live, local schools, international schools, schooling cooperatives, and, under certain conditions, home schooling up through grade eight, in addition to the boarding option. Each of these options require a degree of accountability to the mission to assure that the children are receiving a quality education in line with the core values for education outlined by the C&MA.

It is probably important at this point to explain why the C&MA requires its missionaries to indicate their agreement with the MK education policy before actually being appointed. Our commitment is to bring the gospel to the unreached peoples of the world. If we are going to do this, it is quite apparent that some missionaries will need to live in locations where there are no suitable local options.

It has been suggested on occasion that only those families who agree to the boarding school option be sent to places where no suitable local schools exist. The implication is that we could then accept on staff one group of missionaries who agreed to utilize the boarding school option and another group who did not. It has been the opinion of International Ministries (IM), however, that to embrace a double standard of this sort would likely result in a great deal of discord in the missionary team.

IM continues to study all the possible options that can be utilized in the schooling of our missionary children. Obviously, we still have a lot of work to do on this issue. There is actually amazing flexibility based upon our commitment for the welfare of missionary kids (MKs.) The policy itself implies that missionaries need to be comfortable with the boarding option if their ministry assignment leaves them no other option.

At the same time, the policy contains quite a bit of flexibility for those living in areas where other options are available. Other important information about MK schools and the care of MKs are found in the following documents:

   • Core Values Related to MK Education
   • Family Friendly Missions
   • Assuring the Quality of MK Education
   • Assessing MK School Workers
   • Alliance Academy, Quito, Ecuador
   • Dalat School, Malaysia
   • Faith Academy, Philippines
   • Intl. Christian Academy, Cote d'Ivoire, Africa
   • Black Forest Academy, Germany
   • Morrison Academy, Taiwan
   • MK Connection